In a dark forest
by marinenerd01
Summary: An strange and unexpected journey
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone, this is an idea that I have had bouncing around in my head for a while so I thought I would give it a go. I own nothing Nickelodeon owns Avatar the Last Airbender and BioWare and EA own Dragon Age.**

_Some things are so unexpected that no one is prepared for them-Leo Rosten _

Aang looked around, a mixture of fear and his natural curiosity forming within him. The last thing he remembered was going to bed after planning for the invasion of the Fire Nation. He had been really stressed out and had had trouble sleeping but they had at last helped him relax enough to fall asleep and when he opened his eyes he was here, wherever here was. It looked nothing like the Spirit World.

It was dark, as if it were very late at night. The ground was rocky but it felt wrong in some way that he could not quite explain. Rising up from the ground were stone columns, some of which had blue spiral veins in them. Looking up Aang could see no stars, though it appeared to be night time. To his surprise instead of stars there were floating islands of rock in the sky.

There was one thing that caught his eye, high above him, floating among the other islands, was a massive black shape. Unlike the others it was not moving but standing still in the sky. It was larger than the others and appeared to be man-made. It was a city composed of a mass of black spires. To Aang it seemed like a king looming over his subjects. Aang quickly looked away, just looking at it made him uneasy, he felt a sense of wrongness from it, as if something terrible had happened there. Not sure what else to do he started walking.

As he walked he got an uneasy feeling, one which he was all too familiar with, the feeling of being watched. He whirled around seeking the source of his unease but saw no one.

"Who are you?! Show yourself!" He called out. At first there was nothing but then a movement caught his eye. It was a floating ball of bluish white light, looking around Aang saw several more of them. As soon as Aang focused on them they shot towards him. Bending did not work in the Spirit World, if that was where he was, but he instinctively went into a defensive crouch, but they did not attack him. They circled around him as if they were investigating, if they had had noses Aang was certain that they would have been smelling him. They seemed fascinated by him, his tattoos, his robes all of it. Gradually, Aang relaxed and smiled.

"Hello there, I am Aang, who are you?" They did not answer, of course, but they seemed to understand him. "I need to go home." This they did not seem to understand. "Could you help me?" This they did seem to understand as they flitted off, which Aang interpreted as them wanting him to following. Not having anything else to do he set off after them. He was not sure how long they walked, or even in what direction, the ground and the rock islands seemed to shift and alter constantly, only the city-like structure seemed to remain fixed in its position.

Suddenly the area around him began to alter, the rocks rising up to form walls and roofs. His strange guides vanished but Aang hardly noticed them go, he was too busy staring at the transformation going on around him. Buildings were being raised all around him but familiar and utterly alien, they seemed a bizarre mixture of Air Nomad and Earth Kingdom architecture. Even as they formed they began to burn and blacken till Aang was surrounded by burning buildings. Then came howling of people burning alive, Aang looked about but could not see anyone, only hear them. To his horror he was certain he heard his friends.

"Katara! Sokka! Toph! Where are you?!" He cried as he looked about but he could not see anything through the smoke as he ran through the burning buildings. Then came the laughter. It was a low bass laughter and filled with malicious glee.

"They will die, you will fail and they will die. As have all who have ever trusted you." Aang heard movement behind him, he turned around and froze in horror. It was his people! The Air Nomads, but they were dead. Their flesh was burned and charred bones poked through. Leading them was Monk Gyatso. As they approached they began to speak.

"You abandoned us." They said in unison; their voices emerging from burned throats in little more than hoarse whispers. "We needed you, you ran away and we died." The monks were then joined by others, Katara, Sokka and Toph.

"We will fail and we will die. You already did." Katara said; "I brought you back once, I cannot do it again. When you die again it will be forever." Aang backed away, fighting back a rising sense of panic. This wasn't real! This could not be real! That was it! This wasn't real. He sank into a meditative pose and focused inward, clearing himself of all fear and past grief, just as he had when he Guru Pathik had taught him to let go of the pain of the loss of his people. He focused on the joy that he had known among the Air Nomads and forced away the grief that their memory caused.

He turned his mind to his friends in the present. He acknowledged the fear that had, of them and or himself dying and the fear of separation that that caused. He took that fear and let it go as well. When He opened his eyes and saw that the sectors had vanished, as had the burning buildings.

"Well that was disappointing." Said the voice from before. Aang turned around and at last beheld the speaker. Aang had never seen anything like it. It was dressed in tattered black hood tied with a rope at its waist. It had grey and loose skin, it had small eyes and large incisors which gave it a rodent like appearance and it also had large hands and feet. To Aang it was more hideous than Koh the Face Stealer.

"Yes, very disappointing. There is such despair and grief in in you young dreamer, it is truly delectable. Yet you deny them."

"What are you?" Aang asked. "What is your name?"

"What I am is despair and that is what I want you to feel." With that it attacked. It rose up into the air and launched blasts of ice at Aang.

Without thinking Aang jumped to the side, instinctively using airbending to push himself further away. To his amazement his element responded though not as smoothly as it usually did, it almost seemed as if it were struggling against him, or as if something was wrong with the air. Still, it was more than he had hoped for.

His thoughts were interrupted by the creature launching a fresh assault. Knowing now that he could bend in this strange realm he reached out to seize the ice shards being shot at him. To his surprise he found that he could barely influence them. They were made of ice but they did not feel like water should it was…strange. He had intended to shoot them back at his opponent but he found that he could barely affect them and was forced to jump away again. He reached out to the earth but again the results were disappointing, it felt more like sludge than solid stone. He regretted his lack of knowledge of firebending and his continued inability to enter the Avatar State.

His opponent flew about from point to point, sometimes higher sometimes lower, and at each point it launched attacks of ice. Aang, focusing primarily airbending, was able to evade most of the attacks and launch several attacks of his own. However, these were hampered by unpredictability of the air that he was bending, at times the attacks were stronger or weaker than he wanted them to be and at times they would veer from their intended course. Finally, some of the attacks of the creature got through and several ice bolts speared Aang and with a cry of pain he fell to the ground.

As the creature drew close to him Aang tried to get up but he was unable to do so. He tried to bend at it but with his wounds his already slippery control deserted him entirely, leaving him helpless on the ground. Seeing this the creature landed and walked towards him.

"Ah, now this is more like it. I do so love that look you have, the look of hope dying when one realizes all has been lost and one sees that there is only despair. Truly it is a look of beauty." It approached closer, clearly intending to deal the killing blow. Then the situation changed again.

"AWAY CREATURE!" Cried a powerful voice from behind Aang's attacker. The attacker spun to face the newcomer. This gave Aang his first view of his savior.

It was a tall man, at last it was shaped like a man. He was a golden white and clad from head to foot in elaborate armor of a design which Aang did not recognize as well as a shield and sword. He aimed a powerful blow at the creature. It flew back into the air and launched more ice bolts but the man brought up his shield and blocked them and then moved to stand between Aang and the creature. It hung in the air for a moment, clearly evaluating its odds against the newcomer and Aang. Clearly it did not favor its odds as it turned and vanished. Slowly Aang was able to clamber to his feet.

"Thank you." He said, bowing in the traditional manner of the Air Nomads.

"No thanks are necessary mortal. I merely fulfill my purpose." Aang did not understand.

"What purpose is that?"

"I am Guardian, a spirit which defends the weak. Might I have your name dreamer?"

"I am Aang, why did you call me dreamer?"

"This is the Fade the land of dreams. Did you not know this? Are you not a mage?"

"Mage? What is that?" The spirit turned to stare down at him.

"I observed you employ magic against the demon. Not very well mind you but surely you know of magic."

"That was not magic, that was bending."

"I have never heard of this 'bending'"

"Well I have never heard of the Fade."

"The Fade is the realm of dreams, of spirits and demons. It is strange that you have never heard of it." Aang stopped and stared at him.

"This is the Spirit World?!"

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone, this is just an idea that has been bouncing around for some time. I read that magic works strangely in the Fade so I did the same to his bending. Do you think that Aang overcame the illusion too easily? I look at as something that still hurts him but he has come to terms with. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions let me know. Till next time please pray for the Japanese held by ISIS and all others who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Notes: Hey everyone, I am glad that people liked the first chapter and I hope that you like this one as well, as always I own nothing.**

_In extreme situations, the entire universe becomes our foe…-Morihei Ueshiba_

"Yes," Guardian responded, seemingly unfazed by Aang's outburst; "The Fade is the realm of spirits. Though I will admit that I have never heard of a dreamer calling the Fade the Spirit World." Aang was confused.

"What do you mean when you say dreamer?"

"You said that you are not a mage and the only other time that mortals enter the Fade is when they dream so you must be, so it stands to reason that you are dreaming."

"But I have been to the Spirit World before and not only was I not dreaming but it looked nothing like this. And while I have seen spirits before I have never seen spirits like you and that… other one."

"That is indeed strange. I have heard that the each dreamer and mage see different things in the Fade but I find it odd that you have never seen demons if you have been to the Fade before." At the spirits words Aang paled.

"Demons! I've never heard of demons before, only spirits."

"Then whoever taught you failed to properly instruct you. While I myself am not one to engage in long and learned discussions I know one who may be able to answer your questions."

"Who?" Aang asked.

"Wisdom." Guardian replied.

Aang was not sure how long they walked but as they did so Aang saw that the area around them was again changing. It was not a scene of horror and death as it had before; instead it was a brightly lit forest. Tall trees rose up all around them and bright sun shone through the trees like, the whole scene struck Aang as both peaceful and beautiful. He then became aware of the presence of another, turning he saw a woman approaching them.

Like Guardian she shone with whitish gold light. Unlike him she wore no armor and her face was bare. To Aang she seemed to have an ageless beauty and kind and wise eyes. As she drew near she nodded in a friendly fashion to Guardian and then turned to smile at Aang.

"I welcome you to my home again noble Guardian. And I also greet you for the first time young dreamer." Aang bowed to her in the fashion of his people.

"I thank you for your kind welcome and allowing me into your home."

"I thank and greet you as well Wisdom." Said Guardian. "It has been too long since we last spoke. Alas, I do not come here merely for the pleasure of your company. Some wisps informed me that this dreamer was under attack by a despair demon. I immediately went to his defense and drove it away. This youth claims to never have heard of the Fade or magic, though I did observe him performing magic. He says he has heard of spirits but not demons. Since you love seeking out the truth of such things I thought that perhaps you might be able to provide some answers." At this Wisdom smiled.

"I shall certainly attempt to do so Guardian."

"I shall leave him in your charge. I fear that I cannot remain, there are others who are in need of my aid." He turned to nod to Aang.

"Farewell, young dreamer, I hope my friend can aid you." Aang bowed to him in turn.

"Farewell guardian spirit, I thank you for your aid and I wish you good fortune." Guardian thanked him and then departed. After he withdrew Aang and Wisdom turned to regard one another.

"Will you walk with me?" Wisdom asked; "I find it both very pleasant and conducive to thought." Aang willing accented and they began to walk through the trees. After a time Wisdom began to speak.

"Is it true that you know nothing of the Fade? I that to be very strange."

"It is true," Aang said; "I have been to the Spirit World before but it was nothing like this. Well mostly nothing like this." He amended, remembering his visit to the abode of Koh the Face Stealer.

"Very well," Wisdom said. "The Fade is the realm beyond the world of men. It is the realm of spirits and it is where mortals come when they dream, though mages, those who can work magic, may come here with their own power."

"But when I was in the Spirit World before it looked nothing like this place and the spirits that I met were nothing like you and Guardian. I have never heard of…demons before."

"Interesting." Wisdom said. "Why don't you tell me about what you have seen and the spirits you have met?" So Aang told her of the spirits he had met, the spirit of the forest, the moon spirits and even of Koh the Face Stealer.

"Fascinating." Wisdom said after he had finished speaking. "Well as for the differences in the various areas that is easy to explain. Most spirits are fascinated by the world of the living and they attempt to mimic it but they, for the most part, can only see the mortal world in the dreams of mortals and so they attempt to recreate what they see in the Fade.

"The spirits that you describe are more curious. Many of them seem to be tied to certain places in the real world, forests and the moon and so on. I must confess that is unusual, spirits may be bound to a place but it does not sound as if that is what happened to those you spoke of. Indeed, is seems as if the spirits at the North Pole chose to do so willingly."

"Are not the spirits here linked to places in the real world?" Aang asked, Wisdom shook her head.

"As our names suggest we spirits imitate aspects of humanity; Guardian, as he may have said, represents the desire to protect others whereas I represent wisdom. There are others who represent different virtues such as faith, valor, compassion and others."

"And what about the…others, like the one which attacked me?" Wisdom looked sad.

"The demons. They are spirits which embody the negative aspects of humanity. Rage, hunger, desire, and more. They come into being when spirits are denied their true purpose, or when their purpose is twisted or perverted. The one that attacked you, for example, was a despair demon. But once it was a spirit of hope. It tried to bring hope to mortals by taking their despair into itself. Unfortunately, it took too much and the despair consumed and it began to grow strong from it. Now it seeks to torment mortals which come to the Fade with their worst fears and traumas to cause them to despair that he may feed on it." Aang stared at her in horror.

"Are all of them like that?"

"Not all, some are overwhelmed like that one was, others chose to be the way that they are. They prefer to prey on mortals rather than help them."

"And you?" Aang asked. She smiled benevolently.

"I rarely have dealings with mortals. When I do I help them. I only appear to mortals who seek wisdom."

"You remind me of Wan Shi Tong, well except your nicer than he was." Aang said with a small laugh. "Also I want to thank you for helping me."

"I could do nothing less, Guardian is an old friend of mine and I wanted to meet you Balance."

"Balance?" Aang asked confused.

"I saw right away that you are a spirit as well, a spirit of balance if I am not mistaken and that is why I call you Balance. Though you are also human, I must confess that I have never seen or heard of such a thing."

"I am the Avatar, both spirit and human, my duty is to bring balance between the spirit and the human worlds," he shrugged ruefully; "Though I fear I have not had a great deal of success." Wisdom looked at him curiously.

"I have never heard of the Avatar, or any of the other spirits that you mentioned. And you have never heard of the Fade or the spirits and demons which reside here."

"Do you mean…" Aang started and then his voice trailed off.

"Yes, I believe that your world and the world I know are two different places."

"How can that be possible?" Aang asked, his voice stunned.

"Is it really so hard to believe? In the whole vast universe which do you find harder to believe, that there is only one world with life or that there are many?" Aang, when put it that way she did make a lot of sense. He started to ask something else when he saw that everything was fading.

"What is going on?" He asked, struggling to keep the panic from his voice.

"Don't worry Balance. Like I said, the Fade is the realm of dreams you are waking up."

"Will I see you again?" Aang asked.

"Perhaps. If you ever return I would very much like to speak to you again."

"Aang! Hey Aang!" Sokka called out. Aang got up and looked around. He was back in the Fire Nation and around him were his friends.

"About time Twinkle-Toes!" Toph interjected; "Were you going to sleep the day away?"

"You two, really!" Katara interjected. "He finally gets a good sleep and you want to wake him up."

"So," Sokka asked; "No bad dreams then?" Aang was about to answer but he found the details were already slipping away but he remembered a kind face.

"No," he said; "No bad dreams."

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry that it has taken me so long to update. What did you think? I have decided to make this a series, having more of the characters go into the fade. Who should meet what? Let me know your thoughts. Till next time please pray for the victims of sickness and violence and all who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone I hope you liked the last chapter. As I said, I plan to make more chapters these will not be in a liner line so just roll with it. As always I own nothing. Spoilers for Dragon Age Inquisition. **

_Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive-Dalai Lama_

Azula crouched in a corner in her cell, her hands clutched tightly to her ears as she tried to shut the voices out. It did no good, no matter what she did she could not shut them out. She screamed as they seemed to rise in volume. For what seemed the thousandth time she cursed her brother and the Water Tribe peasant.

It was not fair! Zuzu had cheated! That was the only explanation! There was no way that he could have won their duel! Then that peasant had humiliated her. Then the Avatar…She shuddered and tried to draw her mind away from that memory but her mind, betraying her just as everyone else had, returned undeterred to **that **memory. She was still not quite sure what had happened, her mind had already broken at that point, what she did know was seared into her brain. He had appeared before her and had begun to glow, he had placed his hands on her and then everything had gone black and when she had awoken her bending was gone. They had brought her to this place and she had been here ever since, wherever here was. Sometimes people came to talk to her but their words made no sense to her and she was always so cold. She screamed again as the voices in her head rose in volume again.

"STOP ITSTOP ITSTOPIT!" She screamed but as always they paid her no heed. In desperation she began to bash her head against the wall, hoping to bash the voices out of her head. Her vision swam, stars appeared before her eyes and blood began to trickle down the side of her head. Yet still the voices persisted. In the end she just gave up and cried as the voices overwhelmed her. It was then that she became aware that someone was in her cell with her. She looked up, expecting one of the people who claimed to be doctors, though she hoped it was one of the others. Sometimes when she screamed they would jab her with needles, that would hurt but then she would get sleepy. She liked that, the voices didn't bother her when she was sleeping, sometimes she screamed just so they would do it again. At times she wished that they would give her enough that she would sleep forever. But when she focused on her attention on the newcomer she did not recognize him. He was not one of the doctors or any of the others.

He was a young man, he seemed late teens to early twenties, and he did not seem quite right. It was as if someone had made a person but was not quite sure what a person's face looked like. His most noticeable features were his hair, a strange yellowish color and his blue eyes. And his cloths were all wrong, they looked closer to peasant rags rather than the white clothes the people here wore.

"Who are you?" She demanded. She had meant for it to sound commanding and intimidating but her voice had grown hoarse and cracked from her near-constant screaming and crying. He did not respond, instead he came up and squatted down in front of her. He looked at her, as if he were looking through her and Azula got a strange feeling, as if a hand were running over her mind.

"So much pain, so much sadness." He said, his tone had a pitying quality to it. Azula felt anger stir in her. How dare this strange person pity her! She was Azula! The conquer of Ba Sing Se! Slayer of the Avatar and rightful Fire Lord!

"Don't you dare look down on me peasant!" She cried, she was rather proud of how loud she managed to get her voice. To her annoyance he seemed unfazed by her outburst.

"So much anger too." He paused. and she got the feeling of a hand running over her brain again. "You like the anger. If you're angry you aren't afraid, at least you can tell yourself you're not afraid."

"I am not afraid!" She snapped, though she could not muster the same force as she had before. As before he did not seem to notice her outburst.

"Yes, you are." His mind seemed to drift away and his voice took on a different quality.

"_Darkness, voices all around me, inside me, can't shut them out! Cold, so cold! Mommy I'm scared make it stop!"_

"Don't mention my mother!" Azula snapped. "She hated me and I hate her!" The man looked at her for a moment and a confused look came over his face.

"No you don't, not really. You tell yourself you do, you want to. Because of if you don't hate her then it will hurt."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Azula said, her voice barely more than a whisper, desperate to stop where this was going."

"_What is wrong with that child?"_

"See!" Azula screamed at the stranger. "That shows that she hated me!"

"No," the man; "She hated what you were. She didn't hate you."

"What do you mean?"

"You frighten people. You make people afraid so that they will do what you want them to. She did not like it when you did that, it made her sad."

"Of course I did! Fear is the only reliable way to control people!"

"That's not true._ I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated; I love Zuko more than I fear you_." Azula ground her teeth.

"Don't mention that traitor to me! She and Ty Lee turned their backs on me!"

"You wanted them to hurt people. You wanted them to do that because you were afraid."

"What are you taking about?" Azula said, she tried to make it a hiss but came out more a whisper.

"You were afraid that they would leave you. That's why you wanted them afraid of you. You thought that if they were afraid of you then they would never leave you like your mother did." Azula snorted.

"You're wrong, I could care less what that woman did."

"No, you wanted her love but you did not know how to get it. You hate your brother because he had what you wanted but could never have. But you could have, you only had to ask and she would have told you that she already loved you." The man cocked his head to the side to look at her curiously; "Why didn't you ask?"

"NO!" Azula screamed. "She hated me! I already told you that!"

"_No. I love you, Azula. I do."_

"SHE LIED! SHE LIED! SHE LIED!"

"No, she didn't. You wanted her to be lying because if she were then it would be her fault not yours." Azula wanted to deny it but she couldn't. She felt things, things that she had buried so deeply that she had forgotten. Something seemed to be bringing the memories and emotions to the surface. It was painful yet at the same time something was happening to the pain. It wasn't going away yet it seemed to dim, the pain less sharp and easier to face and to bear.

"What did you do?"

"So much, anger, cruelty, pain, so much. It twists and curls through all that you are so you can't not be it. I shake it and it comes loose so you can let it go." Azula thought about it, it would mean giving up everything that made her what she was. She would be empty, nothing. She shivered and tried to back away from him.

"I can't." She whispered.

"Yes, you can, you have to, it is a part of you and you can only change if you let it go. I know it will hurt, I'm sorry, but if you let it go you can heal. Isn't healing better than hurting? That's what Varric says." She looked at him for a moment then nodded.

"What do you have to do?"

"I don't. I shake it loose but you have to be the one to let it go. But there is something that I can do." He reached out with his hand and touched her forehead, his hand seemed to slide into her. Then he rose and turned to go.

"Wait! What is your name?" He turned and looked back at her.

"My friends call me Cole, but you won't remember me." Then he left, seeming to just vanish into thin air. As Azula stared at the wall she felt drained, her screams having exhausted her, slowed she slid into sleep.

When she awoke she felt something nagging at the back of her mind. Had there been someone there? She did not think so and the thought was already sliding from her mind. Still, she felt better than she had felt in a long time. The voices were still there but they seemed quieter than they had been before and she felt better than she had in ages and much warmer. Warmer? Yes, she did feel warmer, she wondered if…She held out her hand willed it. She nearly laughed as blue fire blossomed in it.

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone, hope you liked it. Told you I would be bouncing around the timeline. I was trying to not make her to sympathetic, using fear because she thought people would leave her if they didn't. As for the rest of it, since in Dragon Age a spirit can make a tranquil normal again by touching their minds I thought it would be the same for a bender having their bending taken away. Let me know if you liked it. Till next time please pray for Kayla Mueller, American held by ISIS who may have been killed, the Americans- held in Iran and all people held unjustly and all who need prayers. Bye and may Jesus bless you.**


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